JPL's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft to take photos of waving Earthlings

LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE - Go outside and wave at Saturn in a month's time, and you'll be mugging for the camera on the Cassini spacecraft.

Cassini can't focus on any people, of course, but you'll be in its photos -- an indistinguishable particle within the pale blue dot of Earth that's visible from Saturn's vantage point, 898 million miles away.

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the Cassini spacecraft mission, is planning to create a mosaic of images from the ringed planet, and hopes to turn it into a historic event.

The Cassini team will be among the scientists and others who venture out and wave at 2:27 p.m. on July 19. The photo shoot will take about 15 minutes.

"Ever since we caught sight of the Earth among the rings of Saturn in September 2006, in a mosaic that has become one of Cassini's most beloved images, I have wanted to do it all over again, only better," Cassini imaging team lead Carolyn Porco said in a JPL statement. "This time, I wanted to turn the entire event into an opportunity for everyone around the globe to savor the uniqueness of our planet and the preciousness of the life on it."

All of North America will be facing toward the camera at that time and will be illuminated by sunlight.

Saturn itself will be blocking the sun from Cassini's view at the time, an eclipse that provides a scientific opportunity to get a better view of the planet's rings.

"We're particularly interested in seeing the structures within Saturn's dusty E-ring, which is sculpted by the activity of the geysers on the moon Enceladus, Saturn's magnetic field and even solar radiation pressure," Cassini science team member Matt Hedman said.